Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I acknowledge the Minister's last comment and the significant movement it suggests. The Minister has told the House that he is prepared to revert in cases where an alternative is not available and make the case that in limited circumstances people would be allowed to cut turf. Is it not the case that we have ended up in the mess we are in because the Department's focus for the last 17 years has been on compensation and it was not focused on facilitating alternative bogs or allowing consent for turf cutting in the hard cases where alternatives were not available? Does the Minister acknowledge that and recognise that the lack of direction at senior ministerial level over those years has led to the debacle today?

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